Anakin Watched
by Sdrana01
Summary: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR EPISODE III. Anakin Skywalker watches for almost three decades. This is SLASH (malemale). Pairings: AnakinPadme, Obi-WanAnakin


Title: Anakin Watched  
Rating: PG  
Pairing: Obi-Wan/Anakin Skywalker  
Summary: Anakin watches, over the span of almost three decades.  
Author's Note: No, I don't have some rabid dislike for Padme. I just happen to like slash more, and this particular plot-bunny  
refused to stop hopping after me. Beta'd as per usual by the lovely Teza.

Anakin Skywalker watched Obi-Wan Kenobi's face when he told Anakin he'd loved him like a brother, in the last moment  
before the lava engulfed the newest Lord of the Sith. The Jedi Master's expression held far more than brotherly love. Anakin  
pondered this briefly: Obi-Wan loved him, but Obi-Wan would not save him. Darth Vader took over then and screamed his  
hatred at Obi-Wan before he fell to fiery oblivion.

Darth Vader watched Leia Organa glare defiantly, and something about her face hinted at a memory just beyond his reach.  
Two pairs of eyes stared at him through the years, both loving, both desperate, and both shadowed with heart-break. He  
almost shook his head to clear it, but he caught himself: Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, was not bothered by insignificant  
memories and emotions.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was old. It surprised Darth Vader, even shocked him. As he taunted the old man who had replaced his  
former master, Darth Vader recognized the faint current of desperation in Obi-Wan's expression from memories of years past:  
a desperation overshadowed by the grim determination to either return his former Padawan to the Light or fight him. Darth  
Vader watched Obi-Wan's gaze flicker towards the hanger door before focusing on him again; he watched Obi-Wan's faint  
smile when the man held up his lightsaber and accepted his own death.

Darth Vader watched the boy--the man--in front of him and wondered why he hadn't seen the resemblance before: Luke  
Skywalker was almost a carbon copy of Anakin Skywalker, from the sandy blond hair to the skin still tan from countless years  
on Tatooine. He regretted cutting off the boy's hand, but he did not regret telling Luke what Obi-Wan would not: Luke was his  
son. Before Luke fell, Darth Vader saw his son's desperation, so very much like another's ages ago.

Anakin Skywalker watched Emperor Palpatine fall and let the residual dark side energy wash over his black prison; he felt Luke pull him back from following, the younger Skywalker holding Anakin until both mustered enough strength to move  
towards the shuttle-bay. Memories, light and dark alike, flooded in: it seemed impossible that he could have missed the  
reflection of Padme's strength and determination in Leia Organa Skywalker's delicate features, a mirror image of the mother  
she never knew. Anakin watched Luke through his own eyes, content to take this last memory into death.

Anakin Skywalker watched Luke and Leia reunite, trying to conceal his disbelief every time he looked down and saw his body  
as it had been, strong and unscarred; he turned his head and saw Yoda, saw the satisfaction on the ancient Jedi's face, and  
beyond him Obi-Wan, still shockingly old but proud of Luke and proud of Anakin.

Luke faded. Their surroundings faded. Anakin watched as a new reality replaced the trees and huts of Endor. He saw faces he  
knew, people he had known, their expressions full now of approval. He felt more than saw the figure that wrapped her arms  
around him, and was surprised by how solid she felt. Padme: the woman he had loved and married, the woman he had  
betrayed and murdered, and the woman he hadn't loved as well as she deserved.

"I knew there was good in you, Ani. I watched our children, and I knew one of them would save you." He had to turn away  
from the brilliant honesty in her gaze; he had to look down, away from that knowing look. "Anakin. It's over. You're here. Go  
to him." She released him and turned to look at someone.

Anakin wanted to protest, wanted to point out that the Obi-Wan he'd loved--still loved?--was gone, but he followed her gaze  
and saw the man again. Obi-Wan wasn't the old man he'd been when he'd died; Anakin realized he'd taken that form because  
Luke had known him like that. This Obi-Wan was younger, the way Anakin remembered him before their last battle, but the  
lines of age and worry were gone. He stepped forward when Anakin did, and they met somewhere in the middle, hugging one  
another tightly. The embrace echoed what Anakin had seen and realized before the lava had taken him.

"Welcome home, Anakin," Obi-Wan whispered, and leaned back to kiss him tenderly on the forehead.


End file.
